The $1,000 award was recently presented to Karkoski, who just completed his first semester at SUNY-Potsdam.

The scholarship is presented each year by the LaChute Road Runners Club to a Ticonderoga High School graduate who participated in varsity cross country and/or track & field who attends college full-time. The winner, selected by a scholarship committee, is a person who reflects the strong academic, athletic and character traits of Crammond.

The award is contingent on the successful completion of the fall college semester. Karkoski, an engineering and math major, earned a place on the Potsdam president’s list this fall.

“It means a lot to receive this scholarship,” Karkoski said. “I remember Duane and how much he meant to my father and others. It was cool to have him around.”

Crammond died in a car accident in 2005 at age 24.

“It was my first real experience with death,” Karkoski said of Crammond’s passing. “I remember when my father got the phone call Duane had passed away. It was a very sad time.”

Crammond, the valedictorian of the Ti High Class of 1999, was a cross country and track champion in high school. He went on to become an honor student at RPI, where he majored in engineering and was captain of the college’s cross country team. He was also the leading distance runner on RPI’s indoor and outdoor track teams.

After graduation from college, Crammond dominated local race races. In 2003 he won the Montcalm Mile in Ticonderoga and the Race the Train event in North Creek. He was third in the Whiteface Uphill Run in Wilmington, fourth in the Prospect Mountain Road Race in Lake George and fifth in the Lake George to Bolton Adirondack Distance Run. He capped that season by winning the Adirondack Marathon in Schroon Lake.

Jim Cunningham, treasurer of the LaChute Road Runners, said the club is pleased to award the scholarship to Karkoski.

“It’s a great honor and privilege, on behalf of the club, to present Ben with this $1,000 scholarship,” Cunningham said. “He’s certainly earned it. He’s worked very hard at Potsdam and been very successful. He’s to be complimented for his hard work.”